Grace Hopper Celebration 2026

Power Up Your Release Day Confidence:
A Hands-On Bug Blitz

Join a squad to navigate a live, buggy application. Hunt down issues, determine their severity, and fix code-breaking bugs — together.

60-Minute Workshop Anaheim, CA Oct 29, 2026
Workshop Guide Bug Guide → Solutions →

Session Timeline

You're in a War Room prepping for an impending launch. A stakeholder report just came in — there are bugs that need to be fixed ASAP.

0 – 10 min

Kickoff

Set the stage, walk through goals, mindset, and AI prompting.

10 – 45 min

Bug Blitz

Pick your role, form your War Room squad, and review the Bug Report from stakeholders.

45 – 60 min

Debrief

Review pillars and share your War Room experience. If time allows, we will review a bug together.

Setup

What to Bring

Required

  • A laptop with a modern web browser

Optional (but helpful)

  • A free-tier AI account (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.)
  • An AI coding assistant (Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot)
  • Familiarity with browser DevTools

We Provide

  • The Bug Blitz app with pre-baked bugs
  • Workshop Guide
  • Bug Report from stakeholders
  • Cheat sheet with hints

Accessing the Codebase & Website

Launch the app in StackBlitz for a quick-start workspace with no installation required. If you prefer running locally, you can clone the repository from GitHub.

Launch the Workshop App

Option 1 · Recommended · No Install

Launch in StackBlitz

Enter your table number (1–20) or scan the QR code at your table. This connects you to your team's isolated database schema.

or scan the QR code on your table

⚠️ Important: The ?team=<id> parameter routes database requests to your squad's isolated schema in Supabase. Do not remove it.

Option 2 · Local Development

Clone & Run Locally

Prerequisite: Node.js 22 or newer. Check your version with node --version.

💻 Need to install or upgrade Node? Download it from nodejs.org, or use a version manager: nvm on macOS/Linux or nvm-windows on Windows.

Clone the repository from https://github.com/marisamachlis/bugblitz-ghc2026, then choose one of the paths below.

Path A · Standard npm

Recommended and works on any OS.

npm install && npm start
Path B · Makefile

If you already have make and nvm, the repo can handle setup and startup for you.

make setup && make dev

If make errors or is not set up, we recommend following Path A.

Connect to your team's database:
  • Via URL: Navigate to http://localhost:4200/?team=<table number>
  • Via Code: Set team: '<table number>' inside src/environments/environment.ts

Explore the App

Browse the plant store — shop for plants, add items to cart, try checking out. Notice anything off? That's a bug. Use browser DevTools to inspect the page and view the console, network tools, and DOM.

Open DevTools with F12, Option + Command + I on Mac, or Ctrl + Shift + I on Windows.

Read the Bug Report

Your team will receive a Bug Report with issues reported by stakeholders — some vague, some specific.

Your job: Match the reported bugs to what you see in the app and the code.

Prioritize & Fix

As a team, decide which bugs to tackle first based on severity, time constraints, and your role's perspective.

Then fix it. Make your code changes in StackBlitz or your IDE, and verify that the fix actually works.

Workshop Goals

By the end of the hour, you'll have practiced four things that actually matter on release day.

💪

Confidence Building

Walk into your next launch day knowing you have a repeatable playbook for the moment things break.

🤝

Teamwork & Communication

Advocate for priorities through your role's lens, share context, and land at a decision the whole War Room can back.

🎯

Triage Mastery

Sort a pile of incoming bug reports into P1/P2/P3 and level-of-effort — quickly, and with reasoning you can defend.

🛠️

Debugging & DevTools

Practice using the browser Console, Elements, and Network tabs — plus AI as a debugging partner — to isolate root causes fast.

Bug-Busting Mindset

Bugs on release day come with the territory. A calm War Room isn't one where nothing broke — it's one that knows how to react. Three pillars carry that.

Pillar 1

Psychological Safety

Reward Curiosity

Respond together, not with blame or panic. Surface what's broken and share context.

Pillar 2

Strategic Triage & Trade-Offs

Functional over Flawless

Weigh impact against effort. Resolve true release blockers now; defer the rest.

Pillar 3

Leveraging Your Voice

Own Your Reasoning

Back your decisions with clear rationale. Make sure your reasoning is visible, not just assumed.

True success is getting a different console error than before.

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, every participant should have practiced these four moves.

  1. Triage First. Assign priority and effort to the reported bugs. Sort them into P1/P2/P3 with a quick effort estimate and be ready to defend your ranking in one sentence per ticket.
  2. Share the Why. Base decisions on user impact and dev effort — not gut feel. Your teammates should be able to follow your reasoning without asking.
  3. Choose Your Approach. Decide between a quick workaround and a comprehensive fix. Both are right answers in the right column of the Priority × Effort matrix.
  4. Problem Solve. Leverage DevTools (Console, Network, Elements) and AI agents — briefed, audited, owned — to actually squash the bugs.
Stuck? Use your teammates and the provided hints/guide to unblock yourself.

Prompting

AI agents can accelerate your debugging — but only if you prompt them well. Know where they shine and where they need a push, then use the three-step framework below on every prompt.

AI's strong suits

  • Decoding a cryptic error — paste the surrounding code and one sentence about what you were doing; you'll usually get a real lead.
  • Spotting the mechanical stuff: typos, missing semicolons, swapped argument order. Anything a second read would catch.
  • Drafting unit tests once you've told it the behavior you want. Coverage without the boilerplate.

Where AI needs a nudge

  • It can't see your app. Describe what's on screen and what you expected instead — vague prompts get vague fixes.
  • Don't accept the first suggestion. Make it defend its logic, then read the diff before you click accept.
  • Feed it the framework, file paths, and data shape — otherwise you'll get textbook Angular answers to your very specific bug.

You can't throw a vague request at an agent and expect production-ready code. To get the most out of AI during a high-pressure release, use a three-step framework: Brief, Audit, and Own.

Step 1

Brief the Agent

  • Define your role and the specific issue.
  • Provide full context — logs, code, environment.
  • State the current behavior vs. the expected behavior.
Step 2

Audit the Output

  • Don't assume AI is correct — watch for hallucinations.
  • Force the agent to defend its logic.
  • Stress-test for missing edge cases.
Step 3

Own the Solution

  • Never just click "Accept."
  • Ask for step-by-step breakdowns.
  • Cross-reference with reputable documentation.

Hints for Success

📝
Document clearly. Write down what you found, how you found it, and your fix. Collaborative notes help the whole team.
🤝
Collaborate often. Share your screen, pair up, and talk through problems. Two perspectives catch more than one.
🃏
Reach for the guide. Stuck? Skim the Bug Guide for repro steps and the Brief · Audit · Own framework for prompting AI well. A facilitator is your last resort — not your first.
🔍
Use DevTools. The Console, Network tab, and Elements inspector are your best friends. Check for errors, failed requests, and DOM state.
🏆
Own the solution. Don't just fix it — understand why it broke and explain your reasoning to your teammates.
💡
Advocate with intent. Practice justifying technical decisions and driving team priorities based on your role's perspective.

You Are Capable. Now Go Prove It.

Whether you're squashing your first bug or your thousandth, you'll leave with new skills, new connections, and a toolkit to rock your next launch day.

You Are Capable Build, Don't Just Fix Confidence Through Practice